Man faces murder charge

March 23, 2008|By Brian Haas Staff Writer and Staff Researcher William Lucey contributed to this report.

A man that Richard Entriken tried to help beat drugs and assimilate back into society was arrested Friday in the social worker's murder.

Kino Bartholomew, a 30-year-old convicted drug dealer, had been kicked out of Entriken's First Step Sober House in November, said Chris Doherty, who runs the residential treatment facility. Even after getting kicked out, Doherty said, Bartholomew would show up on occasion at the Pompano Beach facility that Entriken founded.

"I know now he was just casing the place," Doherty said.

On Friday, detectives with the Broward Sheriff's Office arrested Bartholomew on a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Entriken, 60. They said he was one of at least three men involved in the late-night Jan. 26 ambush on Entriken, Doherty and other First Step employees as they left the facility with rent money.

Entriken handed the money bag to one man and was then shot in the head.

The murder shocked many in the Broward County court system who knew him as a champion for those in the grip of drug and alcohol addiction. He was a Vietnam veteran who overcame his own demons to start First Step in 1995.

Defense attorney Bill Gelin was friends with Entriken, sending many of his clients to the program for help getting back into society.

One such client of Gelin's was Bartholomew.

"They all went to bat for this guy," Gelin said Saturday. "We all tried to help him, we all believed in him. If he's involved in this, it's just shameful."

Bartholomew was convicted in 1996 of cocaine possession and given 18 months probation, according to Florida corrections records. Four years later, he was convicted on charges of selling cocaine and carrying a firearm as a convicted felon. A judge sentenced him to 7 years in prison. He stayed in prison for 6 years, getting out in August 2006.

Five months later, Bartholomew was arrested on another cocaine charge, this time for possession. Gelin, who defended him in the case, suggested he go to First Step as part of probation.

"He's like a lot of guys, he went away for a long time when he was younger," Gelin said. "There's no excuse for what he did, but a lot of guys, they can't make the transition."

Doherty said he showed little interest in getting better after joining last April, refused to get a job and didn't pay his rent. He said he and Entriken still tried to help Bartholomew.

"He was the kind of guy that was considered just doing time here," he said. "He was trying to beat a jail sentence."

In late November, authorities filed paperwork accusing Bartholomew of violating the terms of his probation. It was at least the fifth violation of probation charge he'd received in the past decade, though it's unclear from court records what, if anything, came of the latest charge.

Doherty said that Bartholomew was given many chances to reform in the First Step program but failed to respond.

"We bent over backward to help this guy. We went the extra mile for him," Doherty said. "Unfortunately, he was not receptive and here we are now."

After Entriken's death, Doherty took up charge of the rehabilitation program. He said the community response to the killing has been great and actually strengthened the program. Though he's still worried that two of the men involved may still be on the loose, he said First Step will not change.

"If we change helping people, then those guys win," he said. "I'm not gonna let that happen."